With God All Things Are Possible
Entering the Kingdom like a Child; Excluded from the Kingdom like A Rich Man
Matthew 19:13-30
Harry Stoliker
January 24, 2010 EBC
Listen
Sometimes when I'm preparing a sermon during the week, I meet with a person for
whom it seems that the sermon was directly designed for. That was
the case this week. I spoke to a man who isn't a member here. I meet
him as a contact through someone here. He definitely needed to hear
the message of Mt. 19. We sat in a nearby coffee shop and I tried
to tell him that being a disciple of Jesus Christ meant total surrender
of his life to the LORD Jesus Christ. This man wasn't rich, nor particularly
young, but the story of the rich young ruler particularly applied
to him because he needed to understand what Kingdom Discipleship was. He needed
to grasp that it is impossible through human effort
to become a disciple of Jesus. He needed to realize that there is hope
because what is impossible for man to attain by human effort, God makes possible
through the power of the Gospel of Grace.
So, if you are in tune with the theme of the book of Matthew,
you will find it very useful in the opportunities God gives you to
witness to others. Matthew is about Kingdom Discipleship; how one becomes
a true disciple and how one lives out what it means to be a true disciple
of Christ.
There are basically 3 sections to our text this morning. Look at them
with me. Section 1 is in Vvs. 13-14 The Little Children;
Section 2 is V.16-22 The Rich Young Man; and Section
3 begins in V.23 to V.30, The Disciples' Great Astonishment.
Section 1 – V.13-14 -The Little ChildrenI believe two things
are happening in this section. One is that Jesus is showing the value
of children in general, but then uses them to show what it takes
to get into heaven. First, Jesus loved children! And so should we.
V.13 Parents brought their little ones (Luke calls them infants/babies
18:15) to Jesus so that he would put his hands on them and pray
over them. This was a usual way of blessing children,
especially when passing on that blessing to the next generation. Jesus
was not annoyed by kids, not aggravated by their energy
or bothered by their curiosity or put off by their giddiness.
He saw their value and potential and need for prayer. Little ones matter to God.
This passage in no way supports infant baptism, that isn't the topic
or the application here, but it does mean that if you don't enjoy
hugging kids and playing with kids and praying to God to
bless children, your heart may not be in tune with
Jesus. Don't be like the disciples who rebuked
The main thing this passage is getting at is that to get into the
Kingdom of heaven you have to become like a child. Whether it's a child's
weakness, simplicity, trust, low position, low status or powerlessness
– whatever aspect is in focus or all of them for that
matter – the point is a man has to get humble, off his high horse
and come to Christ in a needy state in order to get saved.
Section 2 is V.16-22 The Rich Young Man- How does this
section relate to the first one? This section tells us about a young
man who refuses to become like a little child to enter the KofH. I've
always been fascinated and blessed at how Mk. 10:21
says that Jesus looked at this young man and loved him
even though the man clung to his idol of money. What a good verse
to see that Jesus loved sinners, some of whom never repented.
V.16 The young man calls Jesus "teacher" or "rabbi" – a term
of respect but not necessarily commitment. That is what this man lacks.
He is interested in religion and has some sense both of his own
need and a sense of eternity. I'm reading Ecclesiastes
in my personal quiet time and it says in Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything
beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart,
yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."
There is a burning sense in the human heart that life continues
beyond this present existence. This is what makes all cultures incurably
religious. We may use this "sense of eternity" in
men's hearts as a window to do our apologetics.
The man wants to do something "good" to "get eternal
life." It almost sounds like he's in the market for some
business deal. He either was a very successful businessman
or he inherited lots of "old money" as they say. He sounds like a
negotiator, doesn't he! We don't negotiate with God; we come to God
as bankrupted beggars with our hands out for mercy.
V.17 Jesus' response pushes the man to think about what he's
asking. Jesus points him to the Ultimate good: God himself.
We don't get to heaven by seeking some abstract standard of human
goodness. All goodness flows from God. Matthew 4:4
"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth
of God." Jesus sends him to the Torah to hear God's good Word.
"Obey the commandments…" The Law of God is the gate through which
a man must pass to get into heaven.
V.18 The man asks which ones? Perhaps this was a reasonable
question on his part because according to rabbinic tradition
there were about 613 "commandments" in the Pentateuch! Jesus makes
him come face to face with the Decalogue – the Ten Commandments by listing the 6th,
7th, 5th, 8th, and 9th as representative
of them all. He adds Lev. 19:18 "Love your neighbor as yourself" –
which is a summary of the second table of the law concerning relationships
with others. We know it as the second great commandment behind "Love
the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." Why is Jesus
pointing him to the Law if we get into the Kingdom by Grace? Doesn't
John 1:17 "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through
Jesus Christ." What is Jesus up to here?
V.20 The man seems a bit proud of himself as he says: "All these
I have kept. What do I still lack?" It seems a bit like he's saying, "Is that
all there is? That was no sweat? Give me something else to do." Could he have
actually kept all the commandments? Isn't that what Paul said
he did in Philippians 3:6 "…as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to
righteousness, under the law blameless." Paul described his pre-Christian,
Jewish days as fully conforming to the external, ceremonial
regulations of the Mosaic law. Was that "kind"
of righteousness what God wants from a man to let him into the Kingdom? Never.
Paul's impressive human credentials: his upbringing, nationality,
family background, inheritance, orthodoxy, morality, zeal, knowledge of the OT
did not earn him an ounce of true righteousness. First of all,
religious righteousness is not the true righteousness of God, and
second of all it is purely self-deception to think that
you can keep all the 10 commandments. James 2:10 "For whoever
keeps the whole law but fails in one point is guilty of breaking all of it."
The man surely fell short in at least one point
at some time, let alone come anywhere close to Jesus' demands
in the Sermon on the Mount! He was sorely self-deceived.
V.21 Jesus continues his spiritual surgery with this decisive
cut into the man's heart. "Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect,
go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven;
and come, follow me." This is like when the dentist whacks a nerve
in your exposed tooth! Bulls eye! Reaction is dramatic. Jesus knew
all along he was living in violation of the 1st
Commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me." Jesus knew that he
loved his money more than he loved God, making the money an idol in his heart. Jesus
knew all along that he needed to kill the idol in his heart before he'd ever get
into the kingdom.
Idols and total commitment to Jesus go together like oil and water!
They don't mix. He was most likely giving some of his money to the
poor, but Jesus tells him he must take radical action in killing the
very thing that ruled his heart. And actually, getting rid of his
money was only the first step in this process. A more far-reaching
step is next: "Then come follow me." The young man need to see that
if he wanted true riches in heaven, there were no half-measures,
no other routes except getting rid of the idols and giving your whole
life to following Jesus. "The release from material preoccupation
is not in itself the secret of eternal life; it is the introduction
to a new way of life as a disciple of Jesus. It is in this (radical
discipleship), rather than in the act of renunciation and generosity alone that
eternal life is found" (France).
"Follow me" = live for what I live for, love
what I love, serve the way I serve, obey the way I obey,
die to self the way I die for My people." Kingdom discipleship
is an absolute claim on your life by Jesus. It's impossible to serve
Christ while serving another master of any sort.
V. 22 "When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great
wealth." A drastic change of lifestyle is shorthand for true
discipleship; that is the principle we see here. He was not prepared to
accept Jesus' terms to gain eternal life and heavenly riches.
Are you prepared? Total, uninhibited, uncluttered, full-hearted
following of Jesus to the Cross of Calvary is what God
wants.
What a great message for our day, when people think so often that
they can sprinkle a little bit of Christianity on top of their self-centered religiosity
and think God is pleased. That is why we have V.23-24 "And Jesus said to his
disciples, "Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the
kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."Don't
even try to say that Jesus was talking about a small gate within the large
city wall through which pedestrians could enter
and that a camel might be forced through if it got on its knees. That
destroys the context completely. What Jesus is saying keys in
on the idea of "impossibility." It is utterly impossible for a rich
man who loves his riches to get to heaven. It is utterly impossible
to get to heaven if you have idols in your heart that you won't
let go of to love God supremely.
The disciples understood the implications of what Jesus said. V.25
"When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can
be saved?" The common view of the day was that the rich were
blessed and favored by God, thus making them the most likely candidates
for heaven. They too missed what Jesus was getting at.
V.26 "But Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but
with God all things are possible." The clear point is that
salvation is utterly up to God. Only God can overcome
the impossible situation of heart idolatry that plagues all men.
All human salvation depends upon God. Men are held captive
to their idols and desires, whether it is riches or something else.
God has to come and release us from our love for evil idolatry
so that we will embrace Christ, believe in Him, and
follow Him with full, undivided commitment of life.
V.27 Peter, on behalf of the other disciples, asks what reward
there will be for those who do renounce all they have to follow Christ.
What a contrast to the rich young man who refused to do this. Jesus
did say in V.21 that there is a heavenly reward for true disciples.
V.28-30 Jesus says there is a dramatic reversal coming in the
end times. There is a bounteous future coming for those who give up
earthly goods and relationships for the sake of God's Kingdom. There
is a reward coming 100 times greater than the sacrifice that believers
are called to make in this present world! Although the demands of
discipleship are great the eventual rewards are greater
by far! Don't whine or cry Christian disciple that you are faced with
not having all that the people of the world have now. You have a
glorious future awaiting you; just keep serving the King
with an undivided heart! Don't be afraid to let go
of your idols, don't be afraid to give Christ complete control
of your life, don't hesitate to love Him supremely,
whatever that involves. Hebrews 6:10 "For God is not so unjust
as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the
saints, as you still do." Galatians 6:9 "And let us not grow weary of
doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Heb. 10:35
"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere
so that when you have done the will of God, you will received what he has promised."
Matthew 16:27 "For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the
glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has
done."
All this is made possible for us by the God for whom nothing is
impossible!
Let's pray.